Questor Insurance News

Britain to Australia non-stop flight tickets on sale next month

A new London to Perth service from Qantas will be one of the world’s longest non-stop flights, with tickets going on sale next month for the route which will launch next year.

The flight will take more than 17 hours, cover 9,000 miles and passengers will fly across eight time zones. It is set to revolutionise travel between the UK and Australia as it is the first direct non-stop air link, allowing travellers to avoid a stop-over on route.

Game changing

With a start date set for March 2018 the new route will cater for three classes of travellers with economy, premium economy and business offerings. New Boeing 787-9 aircraft will service the flights and there will be 236 seats spread across the three classes.

Qantas’ CEO Alan Joyce said: “This is a game-changing route flown by a game-changing aircraft. Travellers from Europe have never had a direct link down under before, so the opportunities this opens for them to explore Australia are huge.”

More changes

There are still some questions as to how the new route will affect other Qantas offerings. The airline currently operates two daily flights from Australia into London, from Melbourne and from Sydney and each of these have stop-offs at Dubai.

According to Australian Business Traveller, the new route might mean existing services between London and Australia change, with rumours suggesting that Qantas is considering axing its daily Melbourne to London flight, although this has not been confirmed by the carrier.

The new route will join Qatar Airways' Doha to Auckland, Emirates' Dubai to Auckland and Qantas' own Sydney to Dallas as one of the world's longest flights.